Deathknell

Welcome to the beginning, welcome to the end. Welcome home, we’ve missed you my friend.

The time has come. You are gripped by fear as you feel yourself slipping into the grave. Black mist slowly surrounds you, encompassing your body in its cold, clammy grip. As the mist overtakes you, the bones within your body begin to ache from this impossible cold. Darkness fills your vision, so impossibly black, like an endless well of ink. You glimpse a tiny pinpoint of light as the cold loosens its grip. Another appears, and yet another. Dozens, hundreds, thousands… appearing faster and faster. Your thoughts clear and suddenly you realize, these are stars.

Far in the distance a sphere of eternal darkness can be seen. As if it beckons you, you begin to move closer. The stars become a blur of light as you move faster. Their light is devoured by the void, and you lapse into unconsciousness.

You awaken to find yourself standing in a dark coliseum larger than any city you have ever seen. As you try to adjust your eyes to the darkness, you realize that your infravision does not work. Suddenly, thousands of tiny red balls of flame appear, lining the stone benches as far as you can see. As red runes begin to glow in the stone, you realize that the flames come from the eye sockets of thousands of spectators. They have gaunt, stretched skin and wear armor yellowed bone inlaid with the same glowing red archaic symbols. Each grasps an obsidian-bladed scythe in one skeletal hand and solid bone tablet in the other. Tattered robes cover portions of their bodies, seemingly alive with shifting movement despite the still air.

You turn, trying to find an exit from the massive open expanse of the coliseum floor. Before you sits a dais constructed from thousands of skulls, many of which belong to creatures you have never seen. There, sitting atop an obsidian throne, a frail figure stares down upon you. Decaying black robes cover a frame of parched skin and bones belonging to one of your kind. Two intense, red flaming eyes seem to bore through you. You cannot move yet do not feel afraid.

You hear a raspy voice inside your mind: The life you have known is over. You now begin a new journey. You have been judged and I now give you a choice. Be reborn of Deathknell or join those who look upon you now. Both bear their own responsibilities and rewards. Choose wisely.